Whats the bigger threat: insiders or outsiders?
That depends on the business and what’s of value on the systems. Insiders already have access and know what would hurt the most. Disgruntled employees can cause a lot of hurt or they can steal a lot. Employees also can be the ones who carelessly change settings that allow outsiders in. In that sense, insiders are the biggest complication. Insiders may not be the biggest source of threats, but they can cause the most potential damage. The threat from the outside is growing. More criminal activity is occurring on the network, and we don’t have a corresponding increase in law enforcement to keep up with it. We’re seeing more politically motivated activity. Some of it is vandalism, but quite a bit of it is economically motivated industrial espionage. Online clothing retailers are unlikely targets for that, but a big aerospace company or pharmaceutical company is. Everybody has to worry about the insider threat. The outsider threat is different for different companies. What’s the worst secu
